Not just normal racist
The Centre Forward Stop-Gap Market
- Thread starter Sparky Rhiwabon
- Start date
Semenyo is an interesting prospect, but he doesn't even seem a guaranteed starter at Bristol City right now. A lower level PL club as a rotation option seems upper level for his next move.
Yep, he's playing now for Austria against Italy and they simply can't handle him.
If we signed him, Ronaldo would've probably had a bigger meltdown.
I'm not sure if it's been mentioned yet (about to go to work so don't have time to go through the entire thread), but all three of those goals came after Martial or Ronaldo came off the bench and Rashford moved over to the left. In all competitions he's scored 8 goals this season, and I'm pretty sure 7 of them have been from the left and only one as a striker (against Aston Villa in the EFL Cup where he did the opposite - started on the left then moved up front). That's despite having very similar amounts of gametime in both positions.
Rashford's performances at striker have been improving a little in his last few matches there, but he's still not good at all. He's far better on the left. Playing him up front not only means we have a very poor striker, it also significantly weakens us on the left (unless Sancho steps up or Garnacho manages to keep up his recent form - both things I doubt unfortunately) and actually reduces his goal-scoring capability.
Athletico Madrid don't use all their forwards enough.
Could we loan Cunha or Correa for 6 months?
I have not see. Much of Cunha though. Any thoughts?
Could we loan Cunha or Correa for 6 months?
I have not see. Much of Cunha though. Any thoughts?
Yeah it’s crazy how people forget it’s when we was moved out wide during the game which he scored. Rashford said in interview he prefers the LW he is not suited at #9 and anyone with working eyes can see it
Boadu is a decent shout, but Monaco seem to play 2 up top so not sure they're okay with losing their 4th striker. Seems more likely they'll just sell Gelson Martins (who never plays) and then they really only have 3 wide men for 2 spots (Diatta, Golovin, Minamino) and then maybe one of the strikers gets a few minutes out wide. They're still in Europe too (same as us, europa playoffs).
Cunha I could maybe actually see, assuming Joao Felix doesn't move. Atletico got knocked out of Europe entirely so maybe they'd take a few million loan fee and us paying Cunha's wages with a big expensive option to buy in case he does really well here.
Maybe one of Zapata or Muriel from Atalanta? They're not in Europe and they have that 19 year old Dane who's already getting minutes.
Muriqi has an okay scoring record apart from an awful time at Lazio and is doing well at Mallorca.
En-Neysri isn't playing at Sevilla. They're currently in a relegation spot but can't imagine they see him as the answer. They're rumoured to want Memphis, so if they get him or another striker that would be an underwhelming but he was a 1 in 3 striker for them until his drought this year. Should play for Morocco in the World Cup so maybe he'll catch the eye. He's sort of frustrating to watch but not many 25 year olds available for wages and probably a couple of million in loan fees with an 18 goal La Liga season under their belt.
Old caf favorite Moussa Dembele I could see too. Lyon aren't in Europe, they're in 8th, he's not playing a lot and they have a young striker (they're Lyon they always do) starting to get minutes and could risk him being the backup since Toko Ekambi can play centrally and they've barely given any minutes to Cherki or Reine-Adelaide out wide.
There's also probably an elevated chance of some random Eredivisie striker that Ten Hag likes if things get desperate, though the top scorers not at clubs fighting for the league are mostly banter-riffic like the immobile (but aerially dominant) Bas Dost and Prem legend Ricky Van Wolfswinkel. The other Dutch name would be Vincent Janssen, also a Prem legend and while he's not doing anywhere near well enough in Mexico to suggest he can do a job even for 5 months here this time, Van Gaal did pick him for the Dutch squad so he's in shape and apparently has some positive qualities in the sense of his workrate and strength.
I would moot the idea of Danny Ings if Emery wants to save a bit of money but Villa seem to have cash and he didn't immediately promote England U-21 striker Archer ahead of him for the backup #9 spot behind Watkins so it's probably not on. I think Ings actually sort of fits what Ten Hag wants in a 9 with his link up play on the ground and finishing being decent.
I'd say Depay is the likeliest (we're probably even on good terms with Barca as they wanted to sell us De Jong), Dembele #2 and I'm not sure there is a #3 that I'd put more than 1 in 20 odds on.
Why waste wages or a fee on a stop gap option when we have stop gaps already in Martial or Rashford to play CF. With Garnacho coming up we have 6 players that can rotate for the front 3 attacking spots. Ride it out this season and focus on a long term and permanent option in the summer. It has to be Osimhen.
I agree with this I feel we either buy a striker in Jan or ride it out til the summer. We have bought well in Martinez, Antony, Casemiro and Malacia none being stop gaps
Ben yedder?
Great post!
Do you have any insight/thoughts on if Barbosa could be an option? We were linked to him in the summer, and he was available on loan in January 2022.
Thanks.
And nah, I don't watch any South American club football. There's guys on here who do, though. If any see this, would be interesting to read even who they think are the best 2-3 strikers in South America right now. There are guys in Brazil like Barbosa with good records, but yeah no idea really.
We have two real options. Either a true stop-gap, like what is mentioned in the OP, or somebody who should be good enough to be a longer-term squad option. If Martial's injuries continue we absolutely need two strikers anyway, as we can't make do with our back-up being Rashford who limits our play almost as much as Ronaldo. So get somebody who can rotate with Martial for the rest of this season and then be our main back-up striker going forward. And who knows, maybe they'll step it up enough to be first choice long term. Think Saha if it wasn't for the injuries. Bought in relatively cheap to give us back-up and competition with Ruud, and ultimately ended up being first choice before he got destroyed by injuries.
How's Ben Yedder going these days? I really wanted him here about 4 years ago and thought he would have been great for us, but I don't think I've watched him play a single match since he moved to Monaco. I see he was the second highest scorer in the French league last season (behind Mbappe) so he seems to still be going well. If he's still at a similar level as he was at Sevilla then yes please.
Knee jerk response now, but someone of his ilk would be good.
Shocked he's only 41.
Yeah he's the type of player I would like as a second choice striker.
What does Googleplex mean? This is the second time I've seen that word used on here in the last while and I have no idea what it means.
Porto are in the knockout rounds of the Champions League - they'd probably ask for too much despite his age.
No idea in some of the contexts I’ve also seen it recent., but it’s a really high number. “Roy Hodgeson is googleplex years old” — makes some sense.
Rashford always looks better on the wing than at CF though, regardless of what you think about his decision making.
The club spunked the budget in the summer so I wouldn’t be holding my breath unless someone is sold, and I don’t mean letting Ronaldo go on a free / sacking him. Money will need to come in to be reinvested for the winter window.
Rashford is better as a wide player, and has actually been pretty effective this season in that regard, so he should stay put.
Ronaldo has played his last match for us, so that leaves Martial as our only striker, and I don't imagine he'll ever go more than 2 matches in a row without picking up an injury. So we desperately need another striker, ASAP.
McTominay as a stop gap?
I believe he used to play up front in his youth days.
It's an interesting possibility, although I think there are many posters on here that will write quite a few negative things about taking that option, but it's a fair point, especially if, as reported, we have no budget to spend in the winter break, I think Martial will be first choice, and Rashford second, but I wouldn't be against putting McTominay there in an emergency.
Take a punt on Brererton Diaz, contract is up in the summer and if don’t give him huge wages he’d be relatively easy to move on if didn’t work out.
A couple of things:
(a) Are you certain we can get a long term solution in the summer? It’s not guaranteed.
(b) Martial is injured all the time. We got 3 games a week for 5 months. We got one CF, made of glass, and Rashford. I don’t mind playing Rashford there. But if Martial keeps getting hurt all the time — like he has for a li g time now — Rashford can’t play 3 games a week.
The board seems to be autocorrecting a word to it as I've seen it too. I wrote the number "25" and it came out as "googleplex" in this case.
He is totally and utterly finished. He can barely run these days. Would be one of the worst options even in terms of pure Football.
We could do a lot worse than sign Kieffer Moore as a stop gap. He is a perfect ETH striker, a target man that gets stuck in. He has a release clause of €6m, but could definitely do a job for us.
If we sign young players like Sesko and / or Moukoko in the Summer, I think Kieffer Moore would be a great role model of someone who has worked hard his whole career, and at the age of 30, finally makes it to the Premier League and to the World Cup.
If we sign young players like Sesko and / or Moukoko in the Summer, I think Kieffer Moore would be a great role model of someone who has worked hard his whole career, and at the age of 30, finally makes it to the Premier League and to the World Cup.
BBC rumour page says that Athletico Madrid are willing to let Felix go out on loan. If true we should be all over that.
We should definitely do that.
Mark Goldbridge could be the “source” of that.
He said that he talked to someone, but only that that someone speculated that AtM might do it, but said that it was far from a given since they are fighting for a top 4 spot.
Felix is available on loan ..get him in
Thanks for providing that info! Didn’t know he had a release clause at 6m. 100% agree, we could definitely do worse than him.
He is also the type who has kept improving his entire career. Always love to see that. He is definitely not the worst dribbler for example.
Giroud wouldn't be bad at all would he.
Gabriel Barbosa is still my favorite. But he was mentioned in connection to so many teams in January 22 and this summer, his agent have confirmed that he wants to come to Europe — and still nothing have materialized.
Like West Ham got Schmacca and Newcastle got Isak, so for some teams there can of course be an explanation. But you wonder if something come up when all these teams did their due diligence on Gabigoal. It’s well known that Koeman hated his guts at Inter. But kids grow up and by many accounts he has been a leader and hard worker for Flamingo.
The big upside from my POV is that we are basically as weak if not weaker at LW as we are at striker. Sure Bruno and Sancho could play there, but Elanga will get the nod many times if we don’t bring in another left foot.
Barbosa is definitely a great fit as an out and out striker, but he can also play as a RW and when he does he plays a style that is comparable with Antony.
Like West Ham got Schmacca and Newcastle got Isak, so for some teams there can of course be an explanation. But you wonder if something come up when all these teams did their due diligence on Gabigoal. It’s well known that Koeman hated his guts at Inter. But kids grow up and by many accounts he has been a leader and hard worker for Flamingo.
The big upside from my POV is that we are basically as weak if not weaker at LW as we are at striker. Sure Bruno and Sancho could play there, but Elanga will get the nod many times if we don’t bring in another left foot.
Barbosa is definitely a great fit as an out and out striker, but he can also play as a RW and when he does he plays a style that is comparable with Antony.
On the Felix loan rumor, found the source for it: https://as.com/futbol/primera/sin-ofertas-por-joao-felix-n/
It’s just speculation, but could of course have some merit if the one doing the speculating has grounds for it (Google translate):
“The player has already said that he wants to leave . He is disappointed with Simeone and knows that he has lost his status as an important player in the team. He doesn't seem to want to put up with his situation much longer. João Félix would welcome leaving Atlético, although the Madrid club is not going to give it away . A loan would be the most interesting option for all parties, but nothing is certain one way or the other .”
It’s just speculation, but could of course have some merit if the one doing the speculating has grounds for it (Google translate):
“The player has already said that he wants to leave . He is disappointed with Simeone and knows that he has lost his status as an important player in the team. He doesn't seem to want to put up with his situation much longer. João Félix would welcome leaving Atlético, although the Madrid club is not going to give it away . A loan would be the most interesting option for all parties, but nothing is certain one way or the other .”
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